Abdul Rashid Ghazi

Abdul Rashid Ghazi (29 January 1964-10 June 2007) was a Pakistani cleric and a member of the Taliban. He was killed in Operation Sunrise, the Siege of Lal Masjid.

Biography


Abdul Rashid Ghazi was born in Islamabad, Pakistan, on 29 January 1964. He defied his father Muhammad Abdullah Ghazi's wish for a formal Islamic education, as he wanted a modern life. In 1988 he graduated from Quaid-e-Azam University and worked with UNESCO as well as the Ministry for Education in Islamabad.

After the assassination of his father in 1998, Ghazi became the cleric of the Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Faridia madrassas alongside his older brother Abdul Aziz Ghazi, and spread an anti-government message due to their attacks on the Taliban militants. Relations between him and President Pervez Musharraf declined, and in 2007 it became known that he kidnapped non-Islamic students.

Death
The Pakistani government launched Operation Sunrise in June 2007 with the goal of stopping Ghazi's actions, and they besieged the Red Mosque (Lal Masjid) in Islamabad. Ghazi was killed in the intense crossfire in Lal Masjid in the basement, along with most of his talib student followers. His brother Abdul Aziz was captured trying to escape wearing a burqa, women's clothing.